(Or, in this case, offer a not-so-friendly reminder of how they work.)

It wasn't an unwritten rules violation that caused a commotion between Bauer and White Sox slugger Avisail Garcia. And maybe that's part of what made the brief, heated exchange in the Indians' 5-3 win Monday refreshing.

It didn't culminate in bean brawls. No benches cleared. It didn't result in arguments over when is the proper time to bunt.

The sequence was an old fashioned clash of talent and wits, full of energized emotion and brash confidence. And baseball, in a sea of cliches and mindless quotes, desperately needs a little more of that.

The festivities began in the fourth inning. Bauer, facing Garcia for the second time, began the sequence with a first-pitch slider. That apparently didn't sit well with Garcia, who does most of...